Adapting a short story

It might help if you named the author and work. Without knowledge of the date of the author's death and his (or her) nationality I'm not sure what useful advice can be offered. Have you tried contacting the publisher of the work or heirs?

If online only, just for fun or as part of academic work the copyright holder might not mind, but I'm no lawyer. Regardless of how obscure the story is, once you plan to publish it or sell it, that's another matter entirely.

A lot of stories from the pulp magazine era were never registered with the copyright office and may be considered "orphaned works".

However, that doesn't necessarily mean they're in the public domain.

Axler said:

A lot of stories from the pulp magazine era were never registered with the copyright office and may be considered "orphaned works".

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Ooo... I learned somethin' new today!

On a tangent, the words "orphaned works" brings up unpleasant memories of that bill. *Googles to see what became of it*

Well, if you find that of interest, one day I'll tell you all about why some works classified as "work for hire" are actually implied-in-conduct nonexclusive licenses and remain the intellectual property of the creators.

Axler said:

Well, if you find that of interest, one day I'll tell you all about why some works classified as "work for hire" are actually implied-in-conduct nonexclusive licenses and remain the intellectual property of the creators.

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TELL ME MOAR!

I'm serious, despite my silly spelling. Maybe we need a copyright, work for hire, etc. thread.

I tend to think those topics are too contradictory and complex to be dealt with other than in the most superficial way on a message board.

People should conduct their own research in this area, particularly since so much of it gets down to individual legal opinion.

Axler said:

I tend to think those topics are too contradictory and complex to be dealt with other than in the most superficial way on a message board.

People should conduct their own research in this area, particularly since so much of it gets down to individual legal opinion.

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They are complicated, but I thought it'd be good to cover the basics, much like how the basics of what makes a bad writing contract, publisher, or agent is discussed.

It may be contradictory, but there's a lot of people who have no idea exactly what things like spec work or work for hire is. I knew one allegedly knowledgeable UK small press tell an artist one of their members hired that a job was work for hire (no contract) "unless they forfeit ther[sic] salary." I was stunned.

Sorry for veering OT.

Bicyclefish said:

I knew one allegedly knowledgeable UK small press tell an artist one of their members hired that a job was work for hire (no contract) "unless they forfeit ther[sic] salary." I was stunned.

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Heh.

Well, it's possible that the definition of work for hire means something different in the UK publishing world. Here, the only way a work can be for hire is if it is spelled out in a written instrument And if it's for hire, then there has to be compensation.

Axler said:

Well, it's possible that the definition of work for hire means something different in the UK publishing world.

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True. It seemed wrong to me, but the group emphasized their experience in such matters, and, like you said, UK copyright laws may be different. So at the time of the discussion I said nothing.

Later I did some digging online (http://copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law) and contacted the UK copyright office. It appears essentially the same in the UK. The policy officer told me:

The general rule for copyright ownership is that the creator/author is the owner of the copyright works (unless it is done through the course of employment whereby the employer would be the owner). When someone commissions another person or organisation to create a copyright work the first legal owner of copyright is the person or organisation that created the work and not the commissioner, unless it is otherwise agreed in writing.

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There was more about situations where two or more people may be joint authors and/or joint owners of copyright and mention of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A couple other gems the group told the artist were: "rights are not retained unless specifically requested. rights are always given up unless specifically requested with a commission." and "every artist that gets paid, loses the rights."

Could you PM me with more info on work for hire being implied-in-conduct nonexclusive licenses?

No need to PM...essentially, if you don't have a work for hire agreement wherein everything is S-P-E-L-L-E-D out, then you're working under an implied license and you still retain ownership of your intellectual property.

In other words, if you write a Green Lantern comic story and you create a new race of aliens and you don't have a work for hire agreement and a transfer of copyright, then the alien race remains your intellectual property.

The group you reference is either unforgivably ignorant or they're hoping the creators they're dealing with are unforgivably ignorant.

Maybe a combination.